The days at Hogwarts

In the end, the sarcophagus turned into a small pottery jar, not a long pottery jar for internal organs, but a short and fat one. And Loren felt that it looked more like a crucible than a pottery jar.

"What's going on? Where is the door to the first tomb chamber? Where is my mountain of gold?" The fairy lock core could not accept such a result. He rushed forward to check the small pottery jar, but was afraid that there was a curse on it and did not dare to touch it.

Professor Babel looked at the pottery jar with deep eyes, and an indescribable expression on her face: "Mr. Lock Core, I'm afraid you will be disappointed. This is not the door to the first tomb chamber. This is the door to redemption of our family."

Lock looked at her incredulously: "Bathsilda Babling, what do you mean?"

The three Hogwarts students also turned their eyes to the professor.

"Let me tell you a story," Professor Babel said softly, "A long time ago, there lived a group of escaped slaves here. They were always robbed by nearby countries, lacking food and clothing, and their future was in danger. They urgently needed a wise monarch to lead them to establish their own kingdom.

The wizard who lived in seclusion nearby took pity on their difficulties and secretly selected a brave young man. With the help of the wizard, the young man quickly united the group of slaves, resisted foreign enemies, and organized farming...

He became a wise king. When he entered middle age and no longer had a brave and strong body, he was worried about how to resist foreign enemies. At this time, a strong warrior stood up. He became the country's general and fought in foreign wars on behalf of the king.

One day, the king met Bathsheba, the warrior’s wife…”

Hearing this name, Loren's heart moved.

Bathsheba?

Professor Babel's first name is Bathsheda. Is there any connection between the two?

On the other hand, Professor Babel continued to narrate: "The king was instantly captured by Bathsheba's beauty. He lost his appetite and even climbed up the eaves to peek at the beauty bathing... In the end, the king had an affair with his general's wife and had a son. In order to cover up this scandal, he used despicable means to kill the general and made Bathsheba his queen.

The wizard who had been helping the country was disgusted by the king's behavior, so he used the crucible to release the disaster and punish the king. He also left a curse in the king's bloodline, saying that the eldest son of his descendants would die young, and the rest of his descendants would die in war.

In order to fight the curse in their bloodline, the king's descendants tried to marry other wizards and give birth to offspring, but no matter how powerful the wizard was, they could not stop the curse from continuing. All because of this magical crucible. "

"This crucible also appears in many other famous stories. When the wizard Moses led the Egyptian slaves to escape from Egypt, it released blood and polluted the Nile River, released all kinds of pests, diseases... and even a curse on all the firstborn sons of the people. All the firstborn sons died overnight, and even the livestock were no exception."

Hermione exclaimed, "The Ten Plagues of Moses! I read about them in a book."

Professor Barbling stared at the stone crucible in a trance and said in a vague voice, "Yes, that was an important event that directly led to the Egyptian wizards to stop their activities. Some people call it the Ten Plagues of Egypt or the Ten Plagues of Moses, but I prefer to call it the Ten Plagues of the Crucible."

"So... Professor, what is your relationship with Bathsheba?" Loren couldn't help but ask this question.

"Yes, I am Bathsheba's descendant." Professor Babeling shook her head, "But I am not the bloodline of Bathsheba and the king. In the king's later years, Bathsheba gave birth to offspring with other people, but these offspring also inherited the curse of the crucible.

To warn future generations, all women of our bloodline are named Bathsilda. Until our generation, my eldest brother died of dragon scabies when he was born, and my second brother died under the wand of the Death Eaters. Only I have survived until now. "

"Professor, how did you find out that this crucible was here?" Bill asked.

Professor Babel replied softly, "In order to fight the curse, I worked hard to learn everything about ancient magic, and became proficient in ancient runes. Eventually, I became the ancient runes professor at Hogwarts."

"So Professor, you found this place in some ancient book?" Hermione asked.

"No," Professor Babel smiled. "After Professor Trelawney got drunk in the Divination class, I brought her back to my office from the North Tower to rest. After she fell into a deep sleep, she made a prophecy in front of me. The prophecy pointed to this time, this place, and the student who was destined to meet me here."

"I thought the student was Bill Weasley until I saw you guys at Gringotts."

Hermione pointed at herself with a strange look on her face: "So the student in the prophecy is me?"

Professor Babel looked at her gratefully. "I'm sorry to involve you in this matter. I know you chose the ancient runes course. As compensation, I will definitely teach you seriously next semester."

Inexplicably, Hermione felt a sense of foreboding.

Fairy Lock was confused and said, "Babeling, so what are you going to do next?"

"Remove the curse it brings. Bathsheba's fault has been punished, and we shouldn't have to bear the consequences for generations." Babel turned to look at the stone crucible. She walked forward with firm steps, squatted down and opened the lid of the crucible.

A foul-smelling blood-red mist gushed out, carrying a sticky stench, instantly filling the tomb.

The fairy lock core shouted: "What's going on! Babu Ling, you want to kill us!"

Babel calmly cast a spell on the heads of several people: "You won't die. In order to cast the curse, Moses put the sand of this land and the water of the Nile River into the crucible, and then added the ten plagues. Now just release the crucible again. This is the first plague, the bloody flood. It is the blood of a hundred kinds of livestock and humans. It does not directly harm humans."

"What about the curse on you, professor?" Loren asked.

"It's that mummy. Just wait until it turns into ashes and bursts out."

As if to confirm Professor Babel's words, the blood mist quickly dissipated, followed by swarms of frogs, lice, flies, and locusts that spewed out of the crucible.

"Ah!" Hermione screamed and quickly cast a fire spell to form a circle around her.

In fact, there is no need for an isolation circle, these things will turn into dust in the air by themselves.

Professor Barbling explained: "These are the ten plagues: frogs, lice, flies, and locusts."

Then came two streams of foul-smelling mist, which Professor Babel said represented animal plague and blister.

The most peculiar thing was a black mist that seemed to penetrate the bubble head curse, choking Loren and Bill and making them cough a few times. It represented the plague of darkness and the plague of the eldest son among the ten plagues.

The last thing that came out was a gust of wind and sand, with the aroma of strange herbs and spices mixed with the stench of corpse that was hard to cover up. Professor Barbling took the initiative to remove the bubble head spell and opened her arms to welcome the wind and sand.

When the dust settled, a thick layer of ash covered the floor of the tomb, and the pottery jars piled in the corners also turned into ash.

After the curse was lifted, Professor Babel's face was relieved: "Okay, Hermione, this crucible is yours."

"Ah! Ah?" Hermione's little face was full of surprise.

The goblin lock core couldn't sit still anymore, and shouted in a shrill voice: "What's hers? This belongs to Gringotts, and belongs to the goblins!"

"You can try to see if you can take it away." Professor Babel explained to Hermione after she mocked the goblin, "You are the only one who can smell the odor of those pottery jars, which means that you are the only one recognized by the pyramid, and only you can take this crucible away."

Hermione fell into deep thought. After hesitating for a moment, she shook her head and said, "I don't want it. From your description, Professor, I only saw the disaster and curse brought by this crucible. I don't think I can use it."

"Of course, you are its owner. It's up to you to decide whether to use it or not." Professor Babel had a strange smile on her face. "When you need it, it will always appear."

Loren's eyes flashed, and he felt that Professor Babel was hiding something.

"Let's go, it's time to go back." Professor Barbling and Bill left the tomb first and returned along the same path.

Loren and Hermione hurried to follow.

"Hey! Gold, where is my gold!" the fairy lock core shouted anxiously.

Bill waved his hand behind him and said, "Mr. Lock, I'm about to get off work. Go find it yourself!"

The goblin lock core was unwilling to give up. He looked at the black stone crucible on the ground, gritted his teeth, and tried to move it. He used all his strength, but failed and staggered forward a few steps.

Suo Xin was stunned and looked up. The stone crucible had grown a pair of brass feet and was jumping up and down in place, even taller than him. Finally, the crucible jumped into the dust pile beside the wall and disappeared.

Suo Xin rubbed his eyes and looked again, but there was only emptiness in front of him, and there was no trace of the crucible.

No matter how unwilling he was, he had no choice but to give up and stumble towards Loren and others: "Wait for me, you guys wait for me..."

In the corridor, Hermione suddenly seemed to have a feeling. She turned her head to look at the stone chamber where she and Loren were trapped. The Sphinx mummy's stammering words suddenly became clear in her mind.

"Remember, don't be alienated by power. Even hundreds of herbs and spices can't cover up the stench of a decaying corpse..."

Why did the Sphinx say that?

And it was Loren who told the answer first, why did it choose me?

Many doubts flashed through Hermione's mind, but there were no answers. She could only shake her head to get rid of all the messy thoughts in her mind and quickly catch up with Loren in front of her.

After going down a corridor and up another corridor, we came out of the pyramid. The sun was setting across the sky, a golden glow.

Holding Hermione's hand and protecting her as she jumped down the last stone step, Loren and Hermione stood on the soft desert and smiled at each other.

On the way back, Professor Barbling suddenly asked, "Bill, can you help us keep this secret?"

Hermione looked up at Professor Babling, not understanding why he asked that. Loren squeezed Hermione's hand, signaling her to be quiet.

Bill raised an eyebrow and replied with a smile, "Of course."

Seeing Babel's eyes cast towards him, the fairy lock core's eyes flashed with a trace of panic: "I, I can do it too! Babel, don't mess around, I'm the manager of Gringotts!"

"【Everything is forgotten】"

……

-

The following content is free of charge-——

The Wizard and His Hopping Pot

Once upon a time, there was a kind old wizard who always used his magic generously and wisely to help his neighbors. He did not tell others where his power came from, but lied that his potions, spells and antidotes all jumped out of a small crucible. He called this cauldron his lucky cauldron. People from many kilometers around came to him when they had troubles, and the old wizard was always happy to stir his crucible to solve the problem.

The beloved wizard lived to a ripe old age and died, leaving all his property to his only son. This son was nothing like his mild-mannered father. In his son's eyes, those who couldn't do magic were useless, and he often complained about his father's habit of using magic to help the neighbors.

After his father died, the son found a small package hidden in the old crucible with his name on it. He opened the package, expecting to find gold and silver treasures, but he only found a thick, soft shoe that was too small to wear and didn't come in a pair. Inside the shoe was a small piece of parchment with the words, "My son, I sincerely hope you never need it."

The son blamed his father for his confusion, threw his shoes back into the crucible, and decided to use the crucible as a trash can from now on.

That very night, an old peasant woman knocked on his door.

"My granddaughter has a tumor, sir," the old woman said to him, "and your father used to mix a special poultice in that old crucible--"

"Get lost!" the son yelled, "What does your child's tumor have to do with me?"

He slammed the door in front of the old peasant woman.

Immediately, a loud clanking sound came from his kitchen. The wizard lit his wand and was surprised to see his father's old crucible: the crucible had grown a brass foot and was jumping in the middle of the kitchen, making a terrible sound on the stone floor. The wizard walked forward in surprise and saw that the surface of the crucible was covered with tumors, so he quickly stepped back.

"Disgusting thing!" he cried. He tried to charm the cauldron away, then to clean it, and finally to drive it out of the house. But his magic was in vain, and the cauldron followed him out of the kitchen and up the stairs to bed, making a loud clanking, clanking, clanking up the wooden stairs, and he could do nothing about it.

The wizard did not sleep all night because the old warty cauldron kept making noises beside his bed. The next morning, the cauldron followed him to the breakfast table. Clank, clank, clank, the brass leg kept jumping. Before the wizard started to eat his porridge, someone knocked on the door again.

An old man stood at the door.

"My old donkey, sir," said the old man, "my old donkey is lost. I think it has been stolen. Without it I can't carry my goods to market, and we shall all go hungry tonight."

"I'm still hungry!" the wizard roared, slamming the door in the old man's face. Clank, clank, clank, the cauldron's one foot danced on the floor, but now its noise was mixed with the braying of donkeys and the groans of hunger from the depths of the cauldron.

"Silence! Silence!" the wizard screamed, but no matter what magic he used, he could not quiet the warty cauldron, which kept jumping around behind him all day, braying, groaning, and banging, no matter where he went or what he was doing.

That night, there was a knock on the door for the third time. A young woman was standing outside the threshold, crying very sadly.

"My baby is very ill," he said. "Will you be so kind as to help us? Your father told me to come if I am in trouble—"

But the wizard slammed the door in her face.

Now the tormenting cauldron was filled with salt water, and it leaped and brayed and groaned, sprouting more tumors and splattering tears on the ground. For the rest of the week, no more villagers came to the wizard's house for help, but the cauldron continued to tell him about their ailments. In just a few days, it not only brayed and groaned, leaped and shed tears, and sprouted tumors, but it also coughed and retched, cried like a baby, wailed like a dog, and vomited up spoiled cheese and sour milk, as well as countless hungry slugs.

The crucible followed the wizard all day long, making it difficult for him to eat or sleep. But the crucible would not leave, and the wizard could not calm it down or force it to stay still.

Finally, the wizard couldn't bear it anymore.

"Give me all your troubles, all your troubles, all your sorrows!" he cried, and ran off into the night, down the road into the village, with the cauldron hopping after him. "Come! Let me heal you, help you, comfort you! I have my father's cauldron, and I will make you all better!"

He ran down the street, firing spells in every direction, with the disgusting cauldron still hopping along behind him.

In one house, the tumor on the sleeping little girl disappeared; the lost donkey was summoned back from the distant heather by magic and quietly entered the barn; the sick baby, sprinkled with white fresh water, woke up healthy and rosy-cheeked. In every family with illness and trouble, the wizard tried his best to help them, and slowly, the crucible beside him no longer groaned and retched, but became quiet, fresh and shiny.

"All right, cauldron?" the trembling wizard asked, as the sun rose.

The cauldron burped and spat out the shoe that the wizard had thrown into it, and allowed the wizard to put it on the brass foot. The wizard and the cauldron returned home together, and the cauldron's footsteps finally became silent. From then on, the wizard helped the villagers like his father did when he was alive, fearing that the cauldron would take off its shoes and jump again.

Chapter 273 Harry's Summer Vacation

The July holiday was a bit hot and humid. No one had watered the tree in the past month, and the sycamore tree that Bates planted behind the courtyard had some branches dried up, but it was not completely dead yet, and it was barely hanging on the trunk with a little remaining vitality. The leaves were dried and hard, and occasionally a breeze blew, making a rustling sound.

Bates was very distressed and went to the gardening store every day to ask the staff how to save the trees so that they would bloom purple pompom flowers again next year.

The Grangers' dental clinic was not in peace either. They had a lot of patients that had accumulated while they were on vacation in Egypt and had not yet dealt with them. Now that it had reopened, they were very busy and had been having dinner at Loren's house for the past few days.

Loren and Hermione have been catching up on their summer homework these days, especially Hermione. She completely overturned the outline of the magic history paper she had prepared before, and planned to condense and refine the ancient magic history of Egypt and write it into her own paper.

Loren said her actions were torturing the old professor Binns.

On the morning of July 7st, in the Granger family villa in Hampstead Gardens on the outskirts of the city.

Loren leaned on the armrest of the sofa, put the phone receiver to his ear, and waited until the other side answered before speaking: "Hello? Hello, I'm looking for Harry Potter."

A middle-aged woman's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Wait a minute, he is upstairs opening the birthday present he received today."

Then the voice was farther away, quieter in volume but higher in pitch: "Harry! Your friend is looking for you!"

From further away, Harry's younger voice came, "Here we go! Aunt Petunia!"

After a series of taps and tacks coming down the stairs, the receiver was handed to another person. Harry's voice was full of joy: "Hello?"

"Happy birthday, Harry," Loren said.

This sentence suddenly opened Harry's long-closed chatterbox, and he began to chatter non-stop: "Loren! I knew you were back. Hanhan flew away in the evening five days ago, and Hedwig didn't go looking for it. As a result, she sent gifts and greeting cards this morning. I was thinking about whether I should take the initiative to contact you. How was Egypt? Was it fun? Did you meet Ron? By the way, thank you and Hermione for the broom care tool kit. I like it very much!"

"Oh!" Loren held the receiver a little further away. "You sound like you haven't spoken to anyone in a month."

Harry said in a gloomy tone: "If I could travel to Egypt instead of staying here with my Muggle relatives and taking care of two owls that fly around all day, I probably wouldn't be so depressed.

What else can I do? I can't tell my Muggle uncle and aunt about the history of witch burning in the 14th century, or talk to my Muggle cousin about the headache-inducing shrinking potion. I can only talk to Hanhan and Hedwig every day, and they always stay out all night. "

Loren: "..."